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Poll Prep
Learn more about what the city of Detroit is voting for this election
(page 1 of 4)
Detroit residents are going to need to budget some time when they vote on Tuesday, Nov. 6, and be sure to do your homework.
There’s more to this year’s ballot than the presidential ticket—a lot more, according to City Clerk Janice M. Winfrey. “In the City of Detroit we’ll have 18 proposals. It’s very unusual,” Winfrey says. “For the first time ever we’ll have to have two ballots.”
Voters will take two sheets of paper into the ballot booths, both double-sided. The first ballot contains all elected officials. The second ballot is comprised of the 18 proposals: six statewide, six countywide and six for the city itself.
Winfrey says turnout is expected to be relatively high since it’s a presidential election, so Detroit is taking several measures to avoid long lines at the polls.
Sample ballots are being provided to all institutions of higher learning, so professors of English, political science and other related classes can use them as teaching tools. Voters are invited to pick up sample ballots in advance at the Department of Elections, and sample ballots will also be mailed, as usual, to all city residents two weeks before voting day.
Winfrey is urging voters to review the ballots before walking into the polls, and is asking everyone who’s eligible to vote absentee so they can study the ballots at their leisure. The way the proposals are worded can be confusing and overwhelming, so it pays to preview the issues.
“We want them to have ample time and be very familiar with voting that ballot,” Winfrey says.
